Health And Safety At Risk Through Scrapping Legislation Deemed Unnecessary

Trade Unions and safety professional organisations such as IOSH, have expressed their “disappointment” at the failure of a government committee to rein in dangerous measures in the draft Deregulation Bill, which is being used to weaken the The Health and Safety At Work Act 1974.

The Bill also gives Government ministers the ability to scrap any health and safety legislation they deem as ‘unnecessary’ without any further involvement of Parliament.

In other words, all health and safety legislation existing today could be scrapped on the whim of the government!

A joint committee of the Houses of Commons and Lords has been looking at the draft Deregulation Bill which contains the government’s proposals to exempt some self-employed people from health and safety regulation.

The bill would also impose on regulators including the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) an economic “growth duty”, which critics say could undermine the watchdog’s focus on safety regulation. The proposal would put employers profits ahead of their duty to protect their employees – legalising the worst of employer practices which exist already!

Both measures are opposed by the TUC and IOSH, the organisation representing safety professionals.

However, the joint committee decided not to oppose either proposal, noting only that it was important the growth duty “is not used by government to undermine the independence of regulators in the way it is implemented.”

Criticising the committee’s stance, TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said:

“This means that the fight to protect the Health and Safety at Work Act moves to the Commons and Lords when the final Bill is introduced.”

He added that on a more positive note the joint committee “did recommend the government drop their frightening proposal to allow ministers to decide to repeal any regulations they want without even getting the approval of parliament.”

The committee concluded the power is “too wide and the safeguards are inadequate.”

Committee chair Lord Rooker said:

“Having looked at the Draft Deregulation Bill in some detail and taken evidence from a wide range of witnesses, we do not think it is appropriate for ministers to be given power to scrap legislation by order on the subjective test that it is 'no longer of practical use'.”

He said giving ministers “that 'Henry VIII' power would undermine effective Parliamentary scrutiny.”

IOSH said it was “disappointed” and “concerned” that the measures on exempting the self-employed from safety law and introducing a growth duty on HSE had not been opposed by the committee.

Source: TUC Risks / Unionsafety

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